Tim Wise
Jan 6, 2023

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Yes, all good points, except for two things, First, if you read the WP piece I linked to, you’ll notice that in fact when white contractors were contacted they voiced racist reasons for not wanting to do the work. Second, the subcontractor example I mentioned was quite obviously about that. And finally, the Black guy who took the work knew he would face backlash and did it anyway. The fact that white people won’t stand up to other racist white people means that we are empowering racism too. To say these people aren’t racist if they were simply afraid of what others would do, is like saying white business owners who feared what other whites would do if they allowed Blacks in their restaurants in the 50s, weren’t necessarily racist. They might have just been afraid. Yeah, both…

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Tim Wise
Tim Wise

Written by Tim Wise

Senior Fellow, African American Policy Forum, critical race theorist, and author of 9 books on racism and racial inequity in the U.S.

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